>Nice one, Allen and Sam. I really love the snowblade detail.
>
>Two More Gaper Tales:
>Last fall I hiked the West Side of Mansfield to get in shape for our
traverse/benefit hike on
>the LT we did in October. This is not on a usual trail tourists take, BTW.
Ran into only one guy
>all day, who asked me if I had seen "that lost dude" on the trail..I said
no. He then
>proceeded to tell me the "lost guy" had come over from the Stowe side, but
hadn't realized
>he was now descending on the West Side toward Underhill. Apparently he was
bummed to
>find out he was going down the wrong side from his car, etc., but was too
lazy or tired to
>bother hiking up 1/3 of the hill and over again...so he made the decision
to go West...and
>gomered down to Underhill--planning on hitching a ride ALL THE WAY AROUND
>Mansfield..instead of just hiking back up!
>
>Another time years ago, I was skinning up as dark fell with some other guys
to do a night
>ski...around the Spruce/hardwoods line (pretty far up the hill). At that
elevation, in the cold,
>as dark fell, my headlamp illuminated a young guy who was lying in the
trail...he looked
>dead, but was just asleep or resting, 'cuz as I approached to check out
what the F was up, he
>slowly got up. I stopped to see if he was OK...his eyelides were all
frosted over, 'cuz he had
>been laying in the snow half-asleep for a while, and his breath had frozen
on all his
>eyelashes, etc...he said he was just "tired" and that he had friends up
ahead, and he had just
>been laying down to rest for a while...I told him to keep moving and not
lie in the trail
>anymore...we never saw him again. I guess he lived.

I remember that. His posse might as well left him for dead.

btw- any Mansfield rando race that doesn't include the td is suspect...
>
>Oh, then there is the famous saga of Johnny Bread-bags, but Scotty D tells
that one better
>than me...
>
>On Tue, 5 Feb 2008 09:37:28 -0500, Allen Taylor <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>So anyways, Sam and I went up to the smuggs side of the notch
>>yesterday to do a little ice climbing. We were at the workout wall by
>>the road, it was a great day and I was climbing in a t-shirt.
>>
>>During sam's second climb i saw something out of the corner of my eye,
>>It was none other than a huge gaper trying to make it through the
>>woods on snow blades with no poles. I pointed out the sighting to sam.
>>The person then continued to ski on to 108 and say "hey there's a road
>>here". He then proceeded to ski down the road to where sam and I were
>>ice climbing and gape. I first asked him weather he knew there was a
>>road here when he dropped, he said no but he figured he would come out
>>somewhere, I then informed him that many survival situations arise
>>that way. By this time two equally gaping snowboarders had joined him.
>>I also came to learn that they had come from spruce peak. It was then
>>my upmost joy to inform them that they were not only in the wrong ski
>>resort but also in the wrong town. I told them their only option was
>>to hike back through the notch on 108. I guess they didn't really
>>believe me because they kept going into to smuggs. They parted by
>>commenting on what great "adventurists" sam and I were and how
>>everyone needed a little adventure (i think referring to their
>>exploit). Now I don't find getting completely lost without any gear to
>>be that adventurous I tend to think of it as plain old dumb, but thats
>>just me.
>>
>>All in all it was a sweet day of climbing, a good way to spend some
>>time when the snow is sub prime.
>>
>>Allen
>>
>>--
>>As lonely as the mountain can be, lonelier still is the man whose
>>travels take him away from the mou
>>
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